Autres nouvelles Experts warn Health Canada might be wrong about W-18 Addictions specialist: 'This is an example of where we’ve made some assumptions'

Health Canada is accused of releasing potentially wrong and misleading information after it issued a news release Wednesday warning about the street drug W-18 that has grabbed international headlines.

The federal health department said in the release that W-18, a drug that has turned up in Alberta, is now a Schedule I controlled substance in Canada, which makes production, possession and trafficking illegal.

The release called W-18 a synthetic opioid that is "extremely dangerous and can be 100 times stronger than fentanyl."

Health authorities and police have routinely issued the same warning, which has been repeated in countless news stories, including after seizures in Alberta. The message has been especially troubling in this province, where hundreds of people have died from fentanyl overdoses in recent years.